So tough in fact, that I actually looked it up. Sometimes, we designers are so intimately acquainted with colors that we can “think” them backwards and forwards, but to put them into words is a challenge. Both Wikipedia and Google’s image search say that Dove Gray is gray with a hint of pink or blue in it. So…umm…there goes my easy explanation about whether it’s warm or cool (pink is warm, blue is cool). Color temperature is tricky, and this color pretty much embodies why that’s the case. Though red/orange/yellow are typically the warmer shades and green/blue/purple are typically cool, that’s not a hard and fast rule. Blues can feel warm to me, and there are certainly cool reds (ever try on lipstick?).

What Dove Gray is to me, and you’re going to think I’m crazy here, is almost iridescent or luminescent. It kind of switches back an forth from warm to cool like an evening sky does, and to me, that reads much like a moon rock or a mood ring does. Iridescent. Luminescent. So there; are you with me now?

Gorgeous tile installation from one of my favorites: New Ravenna Mosaics (image source unknown, but it is likely NRM)

It’s such a sophisticated color that plays nicely with many other hues. It’s masculine and feminine, playful and serious, and richly infused with pigment. You can incorporate it into a monochrome room with other neutrals, or, you can pair it with vibrant shades like lime, magenta, or tangerine. Try it: it works with all of them (though maybe not together…).

This morning as I checked my regular blogs, I woke up to a lovely image of a whimsical room that has been painted only halfway up the wall. I also woke up to a door being flung in my face, specifically my nose, but that’s just one of those perks that comes with being the parent of a little boy with lots of energy and little consideration for your vanity/pain tolerance (in all fairness, he did bring me a bandaid after the fact).

(image via Apartment Therapy via Deuce Cities Henhouse)

I love the basic white paired with bright aqua; it’s clean yet has a great pop! Normally, we see this technique all the time when there is a chair rail in place, but here, the homeowners just decided to fake the architectural elements as they went along! To see a little bit more about this room, which belongs to a little girl named Elsa, head over to Deuce Cities Henhouse.

Another space that I’ve been loving which applies the same “half painted” technique is this one. It’s a version of molding, and it’s very modern and super lovely. The image is from Farrow and Ball, makers of fabulous paint and clearly purveyors of good ideas!

(image via Farrow and Ball)

Here’s yet another one, which uses an eggplant jewel tone that makes the room both sophisticated and irreverent. I love how they just painted over the door paneling as if it weren’t a big deal at all.

(image via Remodelista via French by Design)

And finally, for those of you who are truly daring, here’s a fantastic room that is basic white with a touch of color…in the form on a random rectangle that overlaps trim, window detailing, and the wall. Talk about breaking the rules!

(image via newlightredesign)

Do you dare try any of these techniques on your wall? Or do you prefer to just lust (or look quizzically) at them via photographs?

We also made chocolate chip cookies (yum!), got some new soccer gear (for the boys, one of whom tried on his first pair of mini cleats!), made it through the headache of day light savings time, and (shudder…) went to Taco Bell for those new Doritos-shelled tacos (don’t judge us).

Hope your weekend was equally relaxing, and that your week is spectacular!

Call it what you like: mint green, sea foam, or celadon. It’s that light airy blue/green/yellow shade that is calming in the winter, cooling in the summer, and gorgeous all year round (perfect for this crazy weather we’ve been having!). I like to pair it with crisp white, a creamy rich taupe, or mix things up by sprinkling it among various blues and greens. Here are a few of my favorite celadon picks right now; they’ll be right at home amongst your whites, taupes and blues alike! Enjoy them!

How many times have I said I was going to be taking project photographs “soon.” Then a lot of time went by. And I didn’t. Maybe two times? OK, ten.

Well yesterday I styled and photographed a few fantastic rooms, and surprisingly many of them turned out quite well! Here’s a sneak peek of a bathroom I worked on in 2011. I mentioned in my A Designer’s Year in Review post that I’ve come to really enjoy designing bathrooms, and this one was a huge part of that! (You can actually even see a little progress photo of it in the montage.) So here it is: enjoy the views!

Have you ever seen such a fun, fancy shower in a second bathroom? This one has beautiful tiny glass tiles from Sicis from floor to ceiling!

Even the back of the toilet is beautiful. And the backsplash is lovely, if I do say so myself.

See that light? Perfection.

Hope you enjoyed the Sneak Peek! Coming up: another bath, a bedroom, and a kitchen! What fun!

I love accessorizing with a few thoughtfully placed vintage items, and I find that frames are one of my favorite things to use. They come in all colors and sizes, all kinds of materials, and they are pretty cheap in the grand scheme of accessories. You can often find bundles of antique frames in thrift or antique stores, or sold together on Etsy (which saves you the hunt of trying to put together a coordinated frame collection!). I once got a group of three white frames at an antique store in Tennessee for about $20. I still use them. Here’s one that I recently styled for an article on vintage pieces; I think this would be perfect for a teenager’s room!

One of the challenges with frames like this is that they often have no back or hardware (see above!). If this is the case with your recent find, you can always take the frame to a local shop and have them work their magic. For a more cost effective method of displaying your frame, you can just attach you own hardware and display it au-naturale like the frames below.

Another image I saw this weekend that I just loved was from a favorite site of mine, Design Sponge. It’s the upstairs hallway from Sarah Fowlske and James Milward’s home in Toronto. You can see the rest of this lovely, typography-heavy abode here. This image of the virtually grayscale hallway is just perfect!

Monochrome minimalism at its best! (image via Design Sponge)

Finally, though this isn’t a frame it evokes the idea of using a frame to store jewelry. I am totally enamored with the way this home uses a strip of simple wood and hooks to display colorful beads at the top of the wall! This idea could be easily emulated on a smaller scale with a few frames rigged to hang your beads.

A neat, non-traditional take on molding. (image source unknown)

Do you have any creative uses for old frames, or good places to find them? If so, share in the comments!

Considering that I typically get my Color Friday posts up pretty early, it’s fitting that this late-in-the-day one is “Midnight” Blue. (I know that it’s late not only from the tell-tale darkness outside the window over my desk, but because there is a small voice beckoning me to “Come back! Get my milk bottle! Let’s play! Don’t be mean!” from the upstairs bedroom that is reserved for the tiniest member of our household. The joys of parenting don’t end at bedtime, you know.